The date was December 1915; Britain was in its first world war against Germany. Neither side had made any real progress toward victory, although hundreds of attacks had taken place either side and thousands of troops had been killed. The British were questioning how well their army was being run, so on the 10th December 1915 Field Marshall Haig was chosen as the new leader. He was 54 years old and had a long and successful military career; he had been a celebrated cavalry commander in the Boer War fifteen years earlier. This was not an easy job to take...
the linear attack. Also, Haig could not have anticipated the survival of the Germans after the British attack and could not have known how well dugout the German trenches would be. Any commander could have made the same mistake. In conclusion, Sir Douglas Haig proved himself to be a poor leader of the British Army and indeed deserves most of the criticism he received, yet some of his decisions can be understood to a certain extent when considered from his perspective. A balanced view needs to be taken of Haig's leadership, as some situations could not have been avoided.